The Quiet Art of Sourdough

There is a particular silence in a kitchen at five in the morning. The oven ticks as it warms, the window is still black, and on the counter a jar of flour and water has quietly doubled in size overnight.

Sourdough is not difficult. It is slow, and slow has become the hardest thing for most of us to do. This is a short guide to doing it anyway.

Feeding the starter

Your starter is a colony of wild yeast and bacteria. Feed it equal weights of flour and water once a day and it will reward you with a gentle sour smell and a domed, bubbly top.

“The dough tells you when it is ready. Your only job is to learn its language.”

The basic formula

1. Mix 500 g flour with 350 g water. Rest for one hour.
2. Add 100 g active starter and 10 g salt.
3. Stretch and fold every 30 minutes, four times.
4. Shape, then proof overnight in the fridge.

hydration = water / flour      // 350 / 500 = 70%
starter   = 0.20 * flour        // 100 g
salt      = 0.02 * flour        // 10 g

Baking day

Preheat a heavy pot at 250 °C for 45 minutes. Score the loaf with a single confident cut, bake covered for 20 minutes, then uncovered until the crust is the color of dark honey.

Let it cool for at least an hour. This is, without question, the hardest step of all.

Marta Ilves
Baker and writer. She has kept the same starter alive since 2014.